The Clone Wars has been going great guns over the past few years, steadily growing in ambition, technically and in terms of its narrative. Nevertheless, supervising producer Dave Filoni tells us this will be the most fan-friendly year yet. “I really feel like this season, front-to-back, every episode has something to offer to fans,” he tells us. “In the past, I knew that fans would like certain episodes. I pretty much knew fans would like all the Savage Opress episodes that we’d done. I knew that some the more political episodes would challenge the audience in ways they weren’t used to with Star Wars. And I knew The Mortis Trilogy would be one of the most esoteric things about the Force that we’ve ever done. But, this year I feel like we’ve really built off the momentum of the second half of the third season, and this is the most, I think, Star Wars the series has felt in terms of being action, adventure, it’s fun, but it can get dark. Really, I think we’re hitting all of the notes much better. I think, if I had to choose I would say in particular, the Umbaran arc with the Jedi General Krell, it’s a clone-centric arc with Captain Rex and fans always seem to love the Clones and their character development. The Deathwatch being back, that’s definitely going to be a nice episode for fans to watch, especially with Katee Sackhoff’s involvement. It’s a small role at this point, but it’s definitely very fun and will leave a lasting impression I hope.”

The Clone Wars returns on September 16th to Cartoon Network in the US.